Loading kiln car



April 6 192e. 1,579,258

L. T. STROMMER LOADINGV KILN CAR Filed May 12. 1921 Patented Apr. 6, 1926.

UNITED STATES v1,579,258 PATENT oFFicE.

LUTHER T. STROMMER, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN DRESSLER TUNNEL KIENS, INC., oF CLEVELAD,

OHIO, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

LOADING KILN CAR. Y

Application led May 12, 1921. 4Serial No. 468,829.

jl'o aZZ whom t may concern.'

Be 1t known that I, LUTHER T. STRoMMEn,

' a citizen of the United States, and resident of Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and Stateof Ohio, have invented certain new 'anduseful Improvements in Loading Kiln Cars,wof which the following is a speciication.

My present invention consists in an improved method of arranging bricks or analogous ware'on the cars employed to move the ware through a tunnel kiln, and the primary purpose of the invention is an arrangement of theware on suoli cars in open masses of proper mechanical stability 'and having interstices and spaces so disposed as to facilitate a circulation of the'kiln atmosphere through each mass necessary to subject all portions of the mass to approximate-.

ly the same heat. treatment.

The various features of novelty which characterize my invention are pointed out with particularity the claim annexed to and forming apart of this specification. For a better understanding of the invention and the advantages p ossessed by it, reference should be had to the accompanying drawin and `descriptive matter in which I have 1llustrated and described a preferred embodiment of my invention.

Of the drawings: Fig. 1 is a transverse section through a tunnel kiln; and A Fig. 2 is an elevation taken at right angles to Fig. 1 and partly in. section, ofA a portion of the loaded kiln car shown in Fig. 1.

In the drawings A represents the body of a car suitable for moving bricks and analogous ware through a tunnel kiln. The car A is formed With a ware supporting platform at its top with openings through the top surface of the vplatform which com municate with circulation channels formed in the car body. In the particular construction illustrated, the platform of the car is formed by slabs A8 resting on trans verse`pier-like portions A of the car structure w\' are separated from one another by horizo tal channels A2, the latter being open atr their outer ends. Apertures *A* through the slabs As communicate at their lower ends with the channelsAZ. -The ware mounted on the cz. shown in the drawi, s 'consists of bricks B which 'are preferah y arrangedas shown n tiers with the-bucks to the bricks in the immediately adjacent tiers. The bricks in each tier are spaced apart from one another to permit of a circulation of the kiln atmosphere through'the mass of bricks. The arrangement of the bricks on a kiln car in open spaced tiers is in accordancewith the usual practice, but the arrangement shown in the drawings de` parts from the usualb practice in the division of the lower portions of the brick mass into columns which are separated by the space C, while the upper portion of the mass forms a cap, so to speak, for the columns. As shown the space C runs longitudinally of the car along its center line and de' creases in thickness from the car platform to the cap portion of the load.

The provision of the space C in the mass of ware loaded on the kiln car facilitates the circulation of the kiln atmosphere through the mass which is necessary for approximate uniformity in heating the ware in different portions of the mass, and in particular, it tends to insure an adequate transfer of heat to theportion of the ware adjacent the center line of the car and immediately above the car platform, which, as those skilled in the art know, is the portion of the mass most diiiicult to heat in a tunnel kiln. The arrangement of the ware at the top of arcar in a cap like portion resting and forming a bond tying' together the tops of the columns of ware at the opposite sides of the space C gives a desirable mechanical' stability to the load mass of ware as a whole, which is very important, especially when the ware treated shrinkage. When this temporary shrinkage occurs, however, there is a tendency for the mass to spread at the top, and the ware at the upper corners ofthe mass to fall off the car and thereby seriously interfere with the operation of the With the described arrangementthe liability of the brick to fall off the car as a result of unequal shrinkage is substantially minimized, while the advantages or the columnar arrangement of the bricks in the lower port-ion of load are obtained. The liability of a serious dislocation of the brick mass or spillage is minimized, moreover, by inclining the columnar portions of the mass at the opposite sides of the spaces C toward one another as sh'own, and advantageously also, the upper surfaces of the slabs A3 may be downwardly inclined as shown'from the outer side edges to the center of the oar.

The kiln shown in the drawings is of the known Dressler type in which the heat transfer to the ware is wholly or largely due to a convection current circulation of the kiln atimosphere upward through the open ended channels E in the walls of the combustion chambers E of the kiln, and downward through the interstices or spaces in the loads of bric-ks or other Ware moved through the kiln on the cars A. With this kiln construction, the connected channels E in the walls of the combustion chambers E open at E2 opposite the ends of the circulation channels A2 provided in the upper portion of the car. While my invention is of especial utility for use in'connection with a kiln of the type i1- lustrated, the invention may be used with advantage in a tunnel kiln of any ordinary construction, since in all such kilns a circulation of the kiln atmosphere through the ware must be had to properly heat the lower central portion of the mass of ware on each car.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

In firing bricks or analogous ware in tunnel kilns, the method of loading brick or analogous ware to be fired on a kiln car comprising a ware supporting platform which consists in arranging the lower portion of the ware on each car in columns resting on the ear platform and separated by a longitudinally extending Space at the center of the car, and in placing the remainder of the load on the tops of said columns to form a cap tying the upper ends of said columns together.

Signed at New Britain, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, this tenth day of May, A. D. 1921.

)LUTHER T. STROMMER. 

